Who is Ryan LaMarre — and why should we care?

UPDATE: On Tuesday morning came the chaser, as anticipated:

WHITE SOX PLACE AVISAÍL GARCÍA ON THE 10-DAY DISABLED LIST;

ADD RYAN LaMARRE TO THE ACTIVE ROSTER

CHICAGO – Prior to tonight’s series opener vs. the St. Louis Cardinals, the Chicago White Sox placed outfielder Avisaíl García on the 10-day disabled list (retroactive to July 9) with a strained right hamstring and added outfielder Ryan LaMarre to the 25-man roster.

LaMarre, 29, was claimed off waivers yesterday from the Minnesota Twins. He batted .263 (26-99) with five doubles, eight RBI and seven runs scored in 43 games over four stints with Minnesota this season before being designated for assignment on July 2. LaMarre, who bats right-handed and throws lefty, will wear uniform No. 25.

García, 27, is hitting .282 (40-142) with six doubles, two triples, nine home runs and 17 RBI over 35 games this season. He is 23-69 (.333) with three doubles, two triples, eight homers, 13 RBI and a 1.130 OPS in 17 games since returning from his previous stint on the disabled list. García’s eight home runs since June 26 lead MLB.

That last random stat, about the home runs since June 26, is a nice, if painful, touch.

Breaking, and curiously-timed, news from the Chicago White Sox this afternoon:

WHITE SOX CLAIM RYAN LaMARRE OFF WAIVERS FROM MINNESOTA

CHICAGO – The Chicago White Sox have claimed outfielder Ryan LaMarre (“la-MARR”) off waivers from the Minnesota Twins.

LaMarre, 29, batted .263 (26-99) with five doubles, no home runs, eight RBI and seven runs scored in 43 games over four stints with Minnesota this season before being designated for assignment on July 2. The 6-foot-1, 210-pound LaMarre also appeared in 13 games with Class AAA Rochester, hitting .313 (15-48) with five RBI.

LaMarre, who bats right-handed and throws lefty, is a career .206 (28-136) hitter in 73 games over parts of four major-league seasons with Cincinnati (2015), Boston (2016), Oakland (2017) and the Twins (2018). He originally was selected by the Reds in the second round of the 2006 First-Year Player Draft out of the University of Michigan.

The White Sox 40-man roster increases to 39.

The curious timing part of this has to do with Avisaíl García. Not that a team necessarily times its waiver claims, per se, but this pickup is not a move that jibes with the idea that García’s hamstring injury on Sunday is a day-to-day thing.

Between injuries (Eloy Jiménez), curios (Alex Presley) and utter lameness (Trayce Thompson) in Charlotte, there is no outfield depth for the White Sox right now. There’s DH in corner outfield clothing Daniel Palka (the first Minny waiver snag of the season for the Sox), Charlie Tilson, Adam Engel and Leury García. Purportedly, Yolmer Sánchez had been taking some outfield reps pregame a couple of weeks back, but that leaves Matt Davidson at the hot corner — and Davidson was removed from the game on Sunday post-HBP and is, as we all are, day-to-day.

So, this Chinese finger puzzle of an ineffectual outfield is in desperate need of an injection. Courtesy of a July 2 DFA (after PED user Jorge Polanco came off of the suspended list for Minnesota), La Marre appears to be the man. He’s already been inserted onto the White Sox 40-man roster, yet wasn’t immediately snagged after the Twinkies’ DFA’d him. That starts to smell like a need-based pickup, rather than a shopping spree at Dollar Tree.

LaMarre parlayed a scintillating spring into a roster spot, doing his best Engel and hitting .475. This season in just over 100 PAs, LaMarre slashed .263/.321/.313, primarily as a center fielder.

LaMarre’s 2018 highlight after Grapefruit League play came early, on April 18, when he tapped a game-winning single in the bottom of the 16th inning to beat Cleveland in Puerto Rico.

On social media, LaMarre is collecting kudos for being a great clubhouse guy, which is certainly much preferred to a series of “good riddens” tweets.

LaMarre went to the University of Michigan, so if LaMarre does indeed join the White Sox outfield, a full two-fifths of the outfielder will have alumni ties to GM Rick Hahn (Tilson, New Trier H.S., LaMarre, University of Michigan).

Are any major league OFs from Hahn’s grammar school available?